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Up With the Birds wins Breeders’ Stakes

Up With the Birds, right, wins Sunday's Breeders' Stakes at Woodbine. (Michael Burns / The Canadian Press)

By The Canadian Press

Sun., Aug. 18, 2013

After falling just short in last month’s $1-million Queen’s Plate, jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva and Up With the Birds left nothing to chance Sunday in the $500,000 Breeders’ Stakes.

Da Rosa moved Up With the Birds into the lead down the stretch, then emphatically held off a spirited River Seven to win the final leg of Canadian thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown at Woodbine Racetrack. The Queen’s Plate runner-up easily handled the 1 ½-mile distance, winning in 2:28.69 on a firm turf.

“I think he knew he lost last time (in Queen’s Plate) so he said, ‘This time Eurico, I do the job,’ ” Da Silva said. “When he took the lead, it was hard for another horse to catch him because he wants to take off. He’s all heart. He’s a very good horse.”

Up With the Birds fell well back in the 1 ¼-mile Plate on July 7 but rallied to finish second, a half-length behind Midnight Aria in rainy conditions on a speed-favouring Woodbine polytrack. The race took its toll on Midnight Aria, not entered in the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes on July 30 at Fort Erie Racetrack because of fatigue, while Up With the Birds was always being pointed toward the Breeders’ Stakes.

Up With the Birds didn’t have to contend with Midnight Aria or Prince of Wales victor Uncaptured. Neither ran Sunday.

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Winning trainer Malcolm Pierce said the rest certainly helped Up With the Birds pass his stiffest test. In fact, after taking the lead the three-year-old son of Stormy Atlantic showed why he was the overwhelming favourite, holding off a game River Seven before pulling away for a 2 ¾-length victory.

“He answered (questions about distance) today,” Pierce said. “I was real worried at the head of the stretch because River Seven was giving him all he wanted, but the last eighth of a mile I got a little more relief as he pulled away.

“We didn’t think there would be much pace, so we were sure hoping to maybe be a little closer than we were in the Plate and just have some luck and a good trip. That’s half the battle because we thought we had the right horse.”

Wando is the last Canadian Triple Crown winner, achieving the feat in 2003.

Pierce said had Up With the Birds won the Plate, he would’ve run at Fort Erie and taken a run at the Triple Crown. But with a first- and second-place finish, Pierce wasn’t lamenting about what might’ve been.

“We’ve never really tried him on dirt,” Pierce said. “He worked on dirt in New Orleans over the winter, but we didn’t think it really needed to happen.

“If we would’ve won the Queen’s Plate we probably would’ve gone to Fort Erie and tried it, but after getting beat (in Plate) it sure made a lot of sense to come into this race really fresh.”

Up With the Birds paid $3.10, $2.30 and $2.10, while River Seven returned $5.20 and $3.40. Pyrite Mountain paid $3.10.

River Seven was the only horse to run in all three Triple Crown races, second in the Prince of Wales after finishing 10th in the Plate.

Pierce was honest when asked what’s next for Up With the Birds.

“Not a clue, I was just hoping to get through today,” he said. “There will be no rush and no real plans. We wouldn’t be looking for anything until October. I’ll have to talk to the Sam-Son people and see what they want to do and make a plan.”

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